Home event detection and processing

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, apparatuses and computer-readable media for receiving data from one or more sensors associated with one or more home devices, such as appliances, home systems, etc. are provided. The data may be used to determine whether the home device is operating within an expected range or, if it is outside of an expected range or threshold, whether a home event has occurred. Upon occurrence of the home event, an insurance claim to cover any damage caused by the home event may be initiated and/or processed. In some examples, repair of any damage may also be coordinated by the system. In some arrangements, the initiation and/or processing of the claim, and/or coordination of the repair may be performed without any additional input from the user associated with the policy, home device, etc. or with limited additional input from the user.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the disclosure generally relate to monitoring and/or sensingof one or more home devices. In particular, various aspects describedherein relate to receiving data from one or more sensors associated withone or more home devices and using the data to determine whether a homeevent has occurred. Upon determining that a home event has occurred, aninsurance claim may be processed and/or repair of any damage may becoordinated.

BACKGROUND

People are often looking for ways to protect their homes. People buyinsurance for exactly that reason—to protect against unforeseen risks.However, breakage, damage, etc. may occur in a home or dwelling.Although damage can be minimized if the problem or issue is recognizedas soon as it occurs or as soon as possible after it occurs, often, thedamage or breakage is not detected right away. For instance, a pipe maybe leaking and thereby causing water damage. However, the leak might notbe detected under damage to a wall, ceiling, floor, etc. is visible.

Further, some conventional systems require a user to initiate aninsurance claim to cover the damage and/or coordinate repair. This maybe time consuming and inefficient in that it could delay the repairprocess.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not anextensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identifykey or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope ofthe disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts ofthe disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the descriptionbelow.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to systems, methods, apparatuses andcomputer-readable media for receiving data from one or more sensorsassociated with one or more home devices, such as appliances, homesystems, etc. The data may be used to determine whether the home deviceis operating within an expected range or, if it is outside of anexpected range or threshold, whether a home event has occurred. Uponoccurrence of the home event, an insurance claim to cover any damagecaused by the home event may be initiated and/or processed. In someexamples, repair of any damage may also be coordinated by the system. Insome arrangements, the initiation and/or processing of the claim, and/orcoordination of the repair may be performed without any additional inputfrom the user associated with the policy, home device, etc. or withlimited additional input from the user.

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent fromthe additional description provided herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment and computing systems that maybe used to implement aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an example home event detection andprocessing system according to one or more aspects described herein.

FIG. 3 is an example home event detection and processing systemaccording to one or more aspects described herein.

FIG. 4 is an example user interface for setting default instructionsaccording to one or more aspects described herein.

FIG. 5 is an example method of detecting a home event and processingdata associated with the home event according to one or more aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 6 is an example method of detecting a home event and processingdata associated with a home even according to one or more aspectsdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration, various embodiments of thedisclosure that may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art upon reading thefollowing disclosure, various aspects described herein may be embodiedas a method, a computer system, or a computer program product.Accordingly, those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardwareembodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combiningsoftware and hardware aspects. Furthermore, such aspects may take theform of a computer program product stored by one or morecomputer-readable storage media having computer-readable program code,or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitablecomputer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various signals representing data orevents as described herein may be transferred between a source and adestination in the form of electromagnetic waves traveling throughsignal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/orwireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a computing device (or system) 101in communication system 100 that may be used according to one or moreillustrative arrangements of the disclosure. The device 101 may have aprocessor 103 for controlling overall operation of the device 101 andits associated components, including RAM 105, ROM 107, input/outputmodule 109, and memory 115. The computing device 101, along with one ormore additional devices (e.g., terminals 141, 151) may correspond to anyof multiple systems or devices, such as various servers or systems, suchas a system or systems for sensing and/or monitoring aspects of one ormore home devices, systems for identifying the occurrence of a homeevent, systems for processing one or more insurance claims, and thelike, configured as described herein for receiving data associated withone or more home devices to determine whether a home event has occurredand, responsive to determining that a home even has occurred, processingan insurance claim and/or coordinating a repair or replacement aspect.

Input/Output (I/O) 109 may include a microphone, keypad, touch screen,and/or stylus through which a user of the computing device 101 mayprovide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio output and a video display device for providing textual,audiovisual and/or graphical output. Software may be stored withinmemory 115 and/or storage to provide instructions to processor 103 forenabling device 101 to perform various functions. For example, memory115 may store software used by the device 101, such as an operatingsystem 117, application programs 119, and an associated internaldatabase 121. Processor 103 and its associated components may allow thesystem 101 to execute a series of computer-readable instructions toreceive data associated with one or more home devices, determine whethera home event has occurred, process an insurance claim and/or coordinatea repair of the portion of the home effected by the home event.

The system 101 may operate in a networked environment 100 supportingconnections to one or more remote computers, such as terminals 141 and151. The terminals 141 and 151 may be personal computers, servers (e.g.,web servers, database servers), or mobile communication devices (e.g.,mobile phones, portable computing devices, and the like), and mayinclude some or all of the elements described above with respect to thesensing or monitoring system 101. The network connections depicted inFIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 125 and a wide area network(WAN) 129, and a wireless telecommunications network 133, but may alsoinclude other networks. When used in a LAN networking environment, thesystem 101 may be connected to the LAN 125 through a network interfaceor adapter 123. When used in a WAN networking environment, the system101 may include a modem 127 or other means for establishingcommunications over the WAN 129, such as network 131 (e.g., theInternet). When used in a wireless telecommunications network 133, thesystem 101 may include one or more transceivers, digital signalprocessors, and additional circuitry and software for communicating withwireless computing devices 141 (e.g., mobile phones, portable computingdevices, and the like) via one or more network devices 135 (e.g., basetransceiver stations) in the wireless network 133.

It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areillustrative and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used. The existence of any of variousnetwork protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, andof various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi,WiMAX, and wireless mesh networks, is presumed, and the variouscomputing devices and system components described herein may beconfigured to communicate using any of these network protocols ortechnologies.

Additionally, one or more application programs 119 used by the sensingsystem 101 may include computer-executable instructions (e.g., homedevice data analysis, etc.) for receiving data associated with a homedevice of a user, analyzing the data to determine whether a home eventhas occurred, processing an insurance claim associated with the homeevent, and/or coordinating repair of the home damaged or affected by thehome event.

The systems described herein may be used by an insurance provider,financial institution or other entity to monitor one or more homedevices of a user. Although many examples herein will be described asbeing used in conjunction with an insurance provider, the systems andmethods described herein may be used by or with other entities or typesof entities without departing from the invention.

In some arrangements, a sensing or monitoring system may be implementedby an entity.

In some examples, the entity may be an insurance provider. FIG. 2 is aschematic illustration of a sensing and/or monitoring system arrangementaccording to one or more aspects described herein. As shown in FIG. 2,the arrangement 200 may include a home 202. The home 202 generallyincludes a variety of systems, appliances, etc. that may be monitored bythe sensing system described herein. For instance, one or more sensorsor sensing devices may be arranged on or integrated into devices such ashot water heaters, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, furnaces,air conditioning units, windows (e.g., to detect breakage), pipes (e.g.,to detect leakage), utilities or utility meters, such as gas, water, andelectric, and the like. In some examples, sensors or other monitoringdevices may be arranged on or integrated into paint, bricks or otherbuilding materials, and the like. Other home devices may include sensorsor be monitored without departing from the invention.

In some examples, various types of sensors may be used with the sensingand/or monitoring system. For instance, power sensors, moisture sensors,heat or smoke sensing devices, motion sensors, presence sensors, and thelike, may be used. In still other examples, “smart” materials may beused, such as smart paints, smart bricks, and the like, that may provideindications of wear or potential failure.

The home 202 depicted in FIG. 2 may include a plurality of appliancesand/or systems and one or more of the appliances and/or systems (e.g.,devices) may be monitored by one or more sensing devices, as will bedescribed more fully below. Signals from the one or more sensing devicesmay be transmitted to the sensing system 206 at an entity, such as aninsurance provider. In some examples, the signals may be wirelesslytransmitted and may be transmitted to a base collection unit 204 priorto transmission to the system 206. Alternatively, the signals may betransmitted directly to the system 206, e.g., via wired or wirelessmeans. In some arrangements, the data may be collected in real-timeand/or transmitted in real-time or near real-time. Additionally oralternatively, the data may be collected and/or transmitted in batches.

In some examples, the system 206 may process the received data todetermine whether a home event has occurred, as will be discussed morefully below. Upon occurrence of a home event, the system 206 maytransmit an indicator to the user associated with the home. Theindicator may be transmitted to a computing device of the user, such ascomputing device 208 a. The computing device 208 a may be any of severaltypes of computing devices, such as a smartphone, cellphone, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, and the like. In some examples, as will bediscussed more fully below, the system 206 may process or initiateprocessing of an insurance claim based on the home event. The system 206may further initiate a repair of the home or portion of the home damagedby the home event. Accordingly, data associated with the insurance claimand/or the repair may be transmitted to a computing device, such ascomputing device 208 b, associated with continued processing of theinsurance claim, the repair provider, etc. Computing device 208 b mayalso be any of several types of computing devices, including thosedescribed above. The data may be transmitted from the system 206 tocomputing devices 208 a, 208 b via wired or wireless transmission.Further, more or fewer computing devices may receive data from system206, as desired. Nothing in this disclosure should limit the system totransmission to two computing devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates one example home event detection and processingsystem 300. Each component shown in FIG. 3 may be implemented inhardware, software or a combination of the two. Additionally, eachcomponent of the home event detection and processing system may includea computing device (or system) having some or all of the structuralcomponents described above for computing device 101. In somearrangements, some or all of the components of system 300 may be housedin a single physical device. Alternatively, some or all of thecomponents may be housed in separate physical devices.

The home event detection and processing system 300 may be associatedwith an entity 301. For instance, the system 300 may be implemented byan entity 301, such as an insurance provider. In other examples, thesystem 300 may be implemented by various other types of companies,universities, government entities, and the like. Several examplesdiscussed herein will be described in the context of an insuranceprovider. However, nothing in the disclosure should be viewed aslimiting the systems, methods, computer-readable media, and the like,described herein to use with insurance providers.

The home event detection and processing system 300 may include aplurality of sensing devices 302 a-302 c. The sensing devices 302 a-302c may be a variety of types of devices and may be used to monitor orsense one or more characteristics of a home device, such as anappliance, system, etc. For instance, the sensing devices 302 a-302 cmay include float switches, moisture sensors, power sensors or monitors,wear indicating devices, speed sensors, motion sensors, smoke or heatsensors, breakage sensors, cameras, proximity sensors, presence sensors,and the like. In other examples, the sensing devices 302 a-302 c mayinclude devices for sensing temperature, sewage backup, natural gas,propane, etc., air quality (e.g., carbon monoxide, etc.), air flowquality, water flow, and the like. The sensing devices may include oneor more video monitoring devices such as security or other videocameras, live video feeds, and the like, that may receive and/ortransmit video or other image data related to one or more appliances,systems, etc. In some examples, devices providing video monitoring orvideo feed may be monitoring the premises on a periodic or continuousbasis. In some arrangements, the devices providing video monitoring orvideo feed may be in communication with one or more other sensingdevices and may activate or begin monitoring, providing video feed, etc.upon an indication received from the one or more other sensing devices.Various other types of sensing devices and/or characteristics may bemonitored via sensing devices 302 a-302 c.

In some arrangements, one or more of sensing devices 302 a-302 c may beconnected to or in communication with one or more home devices, such asappliances, systems, etc., to monitor one or more characteristics of thehome device. For instance, home devices or systems such as a waterheater, sump pump, roof, attic (e.g., air flow in attic), washingmachine, dryer, refrigerator, freezer, air conditioner, furnace,windows, pipes, occupancy, and the like, may be monitored. Various otherappliances and/or systems may be monitored without departing from theinvention.

Although the home event detection and processing system 300 includesthree sensing devices 302 a-302 c, the system 300 may include more orfewer sensing devices without departing from the invention. Further, insome examples, each sensing device may be a different type of deviceand/or may be configured to monitor different characteristics of thehome device (e.g., sensing device 302 a detects moisture while sensingdevice 302 b detects power consumption). Additionally or alternatively,each sensing device 302 a-302 c may be connected to or in communicationwith a different home device, or multiple sensing devices 302 a-302 bmay be connected to or in communication with a single home device suchthat multiple, different characteristics of the home device are beingmonitored (e.g., simultaneously). This may permit additional and/or moreaccurate information to be collected about the home device. Variouscombinations of the above-described arrangements may also be usedwithout departing from the invention.

Signals and/or data from the sensing devices 302 a-302 c may be receivedby the sensing system 300. For instance, signals, video feed, and/ordata may be transmitted from the sensing devices 302 a-302 c to thesystem 300 via wired or wireless transmission. In some examples, thedata and/or signals may be transmitted to a base unit for collectionprior to transmission to the system 300 or entity 301 associated withthe system 300. In other examples, the data and/or signals may betransmitted directly from each sensor 302 to the system 300 or entity301.

The signals and/or data from the sensing devices 302 a-302 c may bereceived by an event identification module 304. The event identificationmodule 304 may include one or more computing devices containing many orall of the hardware and/or software components of the computing device101 in FIG. 1. The event identification module 304 may include hardware,software and/or network components configured to receive and/or transmitinformation to and/or from various computing devices, modules,databases, sensors, and the like.

The event identification module 304 may be configured to perform a setof functions within the home event detection and processing system 300.For instance, the event identification module 304 may collect dataand/or signals received from one or more sensing devices 302 a-302 c andmay include one or more algorithms which may be executed by one or moresoftware applications running on generic or specialized hardware withinthe home event detection and processing system 300 to determine whetherdata is within a predefined range. The event identification module 304may receive data, such as previously collected or historical data, from,for example, an operating data database 306. The operating data database306 may include performance or operational data associated with thesystems, devices, etc. being monitored by sensing devices 302 a-302 c.The data may be data that was previously collected by the system and hasbeen stored. The event identification module 304 may compare newlyreceived data from sensing devices 302 a-302 c to historical data fromoperating data database 306 to determine whether the devices beingmonitored are operating within a predefined or expected range ofthreshold (e.g., based on the data) or are operating outside of apredefined range, which may indicate occurrence of a home event. Someexamples of home events may include fire, leaking or burst pipe, brokenwindow, hot water heater failure, rupture of refrigerator water line,roof damage, sewer backup, loss of electricity, vacancy of the house,natural disasters (e.g., earthquake, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc.),among others.

Upon identifying a home event, the claim processing module 310 maydetermine whether the home event and any associated damage may becovered by an insurance policy of the user or homeowner. For instance,the claim processing module 310 may initiate a claim to determinewhether a policy will cover the damage, whether there is a deductible,an amount of the deductible, and the like. In some examples, this may beperformed automatically upon detection of a home event. The claimprocessing module 310 may obtain additional data from one or more otherdatabases (not shown in FIG. 3) to process the claim. For instance, theclaim processing module 310 may receive data associated with thehomeowner, insurance policy, and the like. This information may bestored in one or more databases associated with the entity. Further, theclaim processing module 310 may receive additional informationassociated with a severity of the home event or the damage associatedtherewith. For instance, data received from additional sensing devicesmay aid in determining the severity of the damage. For example, if thesystem receives data from the home indicating that a window has beenbroken (e.g., from a breakage sensor monitoring one or more windows inthe home), a moisture sensor in the room with the broken window mayprovide additional data indicating whether any water damage has occurreddue to the broken window (e.g., from rain, snow, etc.). This may aid inindicating a severity of the damage and in determining a cost of therepair of the damage.

In some examples, the claim processing module 310 may identify adeductible associated with the insurance policy. In some arrangements,the claim processing module 310 may compare the cost to repair thedamage with the identified deductible. If the deductible is greater thanthe cost to repair the damage, in some arrangements a notification maybe transmitted to the user indicating this information. In arrangementsin which a claim may be automatically processed (or default instructionsare provided, as will be discussed more fully below) the automaticprocessing may be cancelled if the deductible is determined to begreater than a cost of the damage and/or the user may be notified ofsuch.

The home event detection and processing system 300 may further include acustomer notification module 308. The customer notification module maytransmit a notification to the user or customer associated with the home(e.g., homeowner, renter, etc.) indicating that the home event hasoccurred or identifying the potential issue. The notification mayinclude the nature of the home event. In some examples, the notificationmay include an indication of the insurance claim being processed,whether the damage is covered by the policy, the amount (if any) of adeductible, and the like.

In some examples, the customer notification module 308 may include oneor more customer default settings. For instance, some or all portions ofthe systems, methods, etc. described herein may be performedautomatically. For instance, upon detection of a home event, initiationof an insurance claim may be performed automatically. Further, uponprocessing the insurance claim, in some examples, the system mayautomatically arrange or coordinate repair of any damage (e.g., contacta repair provider, establish date for repair, provide access to thehome, etc.). Accordingly, the entire process may be performed withoutuser input from the customer, in some arrangements. A user may identifywhat, if any, portions of the process should be performed by setting oneor more customer defaults.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example user interface that may be used to setcustomer defaults.

The user interface 400 includes field 402 in which the name of thepolicy holder may be identified. Field 404 indicates when the user orcustomer would prefer to receive a notification. In the example shown inFIG. 4, the user has selected to receive a notification upon detectionof a home event. However, various other options may be available forselection, such as, upon processing of insurance claim related to homeevent, upon completion of repair associated with home event, never, andthe like. Various other options may be available for selection as adefault without departing from the invention. The selection may be made,as shown in FIG. 4, from a drop down menu (e.g., by selecting down arrowassociated with field 404) or may be made using various other knownmethods of selection (clicking, selecting radio button, etc.).

Field 406 indicates when the user or customer would like to initiateclaim processing. In FIG. 4, the user has indicated that claimprocessing should be initiated automatically (e.g., automatically upondetection of a home event). In other examples, a user may select, uponreceiving user input, upon determining that a cost of the damage isabove a predetermined threshold, never, and the like. Various otheroptions may be available for selection without departing from theinvention.

Field 408 indicates whether (or when) the user has selected to initiaterepair (e.g., have the system initiate/coordinate repair. In field 408,the user has selected not to have repair initiated by the system. Inother examples, the user may select options such as, automatically upondetection of a home event, automatically upon processing of insuranceclaim, upon receiving user input electing repair, and the like. Variousother options may be available for selection without departing from theinvention.

The user or customer may select “OK” option 410 to save the defaultsettings selected or “CLEAR” option 412 to clear the selections made.

The default options illustrated in the user interface 400 of FIG. 4 aremerely some examples of default options available to a user. Variousother options may be provided to the user without departing from theinvention.

In some examples, the default settings may include one or more optionsfor a user to opt out of the system or default actions. For instance, insome arrangements, the default action may be to prompt a user for userinput before proceeding with one or more of initiating a claim,processing a claim, arranging repair, etc. Accordingly, notificationsmay be transmitted to the user indicating that the system will proceedwith the default action upon receiving user input or unless user inputis receiving overriding the default instructions.

With further reference to FIG. 3, the system may determine whether anydefault settings exist in customer notification module 308 and mayprovide notifications to the customer according to the default settings.The notifications may be provided to a computing device associated withthe user. Various example computing devices 314 are shown in FIG. 3. Forinstance, a notification may be transmitted to a user's smartphone 314a, personal digital assistant (PDA) 314 b, tablet computer 314 c, cellphone 314 d or other computing device 314 e. The notification may besent via email, short message service (SMS), or via an onlineapplication or mobile application on a mobile device. In some examples,the notification may be transmitted to a user interface of a vehicleassociated with the user or customer. In still other examples, anotification may be sent to multiple computing devices of the userand/or via multiple transmission methods.

The home event detection and processing system 300 may further include arepair coordination module 316. The repair coordination module may be incommunication with or connected to one or more other modules within thesystem and may coordinate or arrange repair of any damage associatedwith the home event. For instance, the repair coordination module mayidentify a service entity to complete the repair, may schedule a datefor the repair, may coordinate access to the home if needed, etc. Therepair coordination module may also communicate with one or morecomputing devices associated with one or more service entities in orderto coordinate the repair. For instance, the extent of damage,scheduling, etc. may be performed via communication between the repaircoordination module 316 and one or more computing devices associatedwith a selected service entity.

FIG. 5 illustrates one example method of detecting a home event andprocessing the data received associated with the home event. In step500, data from one or more sensing devices may be received. The data maybe received from one or more sensors associated with one home device orsystem, and/or from one or more sensors associated with a plurality ofhome devices or system. In step 502, the data received may be processedto determine whether a home event has occurred. Determination of whethera home event has occurred may be based on a comparison of the receiveddata to previously received or stored data (e.g., historical data) forthe same or similar home devices or systems.

In step 504, an insurance claim may be initiated and/or a deductibleamount may be determined. In some arrangement, step 504 may be anoptional step performed based on received user input or previouslyreceived user input establishing a default setting to initiate aninsurance claim and/or determine a deductible. Initiation of the claimmay include requesting additional information associated with theinsurance policy. The additional information may be used with thereceived data to determine a nature of the event, an extent of damagecaused by the home event, whether the damage is covered under thepolicy, an amount of a deductible, and the like. In some examples, useof the home event detection and processing system (e.g., monitoring thehome for events, automatically processing claims or automaticallyprocessing repairs) may result in a reduced deductible for the userbecause the event may be detected more quickly by the monitoring systemthan by the user, thereby reducing the damaging. In some examples, thedeductible may be waived in exchange for implementation of the systemdescribed herein.

Further, step 504 may further include determining a cost associated withrepair of the damage. In some examples, the determine deductible may becompared to the cost to determine whether the cost to repair is lessthan the identified deductible.

In step 506, the customer may be notified of the home event and/or ofthe determined deductible, claim initiation, etc. As discussed above,the notification may be transmitted to a computing device of the userand may be transmitted based on default settings associated with theuser. For instance, the user may request to be notified of any detectedhome event when detected. Alternatively, the user may requestnotification when the insurance claim has been initiated and informationis available regarding deductible, coverage, etc.

In some examples, step 506 may be performed prior to step 504 (e.g.,upon detecting a home event and prior to initiating a claim).

In optional step 508, user input may be received to continue processingof a claim and/or initiate repair. For example, upon receiving anotification of the home event, the user may authorize initiation of aclaim (if not automatically performed), further processing of the claim,coordination of repair of any damage, and the like.

Alternatively, in some examples, a user may have established defaultsettings for the process and, thus, the process may not receive userinput to process an insurance claim, coordinate repair of damage, etc.Instead, the process may continue at step 510 in which the insuranceclaim is automatically processed and/or the repair is coordinated. Forinstance, the insurance claim may be processed, such as by the insuranceprovider implementing the system. In some examples, based on particulardefault settings of the user, the system may automatically coordinatewith a service entity to repair any damage associated with the homeevent. Accordingly, in some arrangements, the home event may bedetected, an insurance claim may be processed and repair may becoordinated automatically (e.g., without any user input from thehomeowner, renter, customer, policy holder, etc.).

FIG. 6 illustrates another method of detecting a home event andprocessing the data received. In step 600, data may be received from oneor more sensing devices associated with one or more home devices orsystems. In step 602, the received data may be processed (e.g., comparedwith previously received/stored data) to determine whether a home eventhas occurred. If, in step 602, no home event is detected (e.g., thecomparison does not result in an indication that performance of any ofthe home devices or systems are operating outside of a normal range),the process will return to step 600 to continue receiving data.

If, in step 602, a home event is detected, a determination is made instep 604 as to whether one or more customer defaults have been set forthe customer associated with the home being monitored. If, in step 604,no customer defaults are available, a notification may be transmitted tothe customer in step 606. The notification may include an indication ofthe occurrence of the home event, type of home event, etc. In someexamples, the notification may include an offer to proceed withprocessing an insurance claim associated with the home event. In step608, a determination may be made as to whether user input has beenreceived to process an insurance claim associated with the home event.If not, the process may end. The user or customer may then later requestto process the claim, arrange for repair, etc.

If, in step 608, user input is receive to proceed with processing aninsurance claim, the claim will be processed in step 610 and the processmay end. Additionally, as discussed above, the user may, in someexamples, be prompted with an option to coordinate repair via thesystem. In some arrangements, processing the claim may include making apayment to the customer, user, policy holder, etc. For instance, thesystem may identify, as discussed above, a cost of repair of the damageand processing of the claim may include, in some examples, a paymentmade to the user to cover that cost. The payment may be made to the userautomatically upon processing the claim (e.g., no additional user inputmay be received in order to receive payment).

In some examples, processing of the claim may further includeidentifying accommodations for the policy holder/home owner if they areneeded. For instance, if the damage is extensive, in some examples, thehomeowner may have to leave the premises due to the damage (e.g., incase of a fire, natural disaster, etc.). Accordingly, in somearrangements, processing of the claim may include identification ofalternative accommodations for the homeowner (e.g., a hotel) and mayinclude reserving those alternative accommodations.

If, in step 604, customer default settings are available, adetermination may be made in step as to whether the default settingsinclude processing an insurance claim and coordinating repair of thedamage in step 612. If the default instructions indicate that the claimshould be processed and repair arranged, the system may automaticallyproceed with processing an insurance claim and coordinating repair ofthe damage in step 614. In some examples, the repair may includepre-established arrangements, such as placing a key with a neighbor orin a lockbox having a code, such that the system may instruct any repairpersonnel as to how to obtain entry to the house.

If, in step 612, the default instructions do not indicate that aninsurance claim should be processed and repair should be coordinated, adetermination may be made in step 616 as to whether the defaultinstructions include initiating a claim and notifying the customer. Ifthe instructions do not include those default options, the process maymove to step 606 and a notification may be transmitted to the customer.

If, in step 616, the default instructions include initiating a claim andnotifying the customer, the claim may be initiated in step 618.Initiating a claim may include various aspects discussed above,including obtaining additional information associated with an insurancepolicy of the customer. In step 620, a notification is transmitted tothe user including claim information (e.g., amount of deductible,applicable coverage, etc.). The notification may include informationassociated with the home event. The process may then continue at step608 with a determination of whether user input has been received toprocess the claim.

The various home event detection and processing systems, methods, etc.described herein may provide for early detection of any potential issuesin a home due to monitoring of one or more devices, system, etc.Accordingly, upon occurrence of a home event, damage may be minimizedbecause a response to the event may occur earlier than it would havewithout.

Further, the arrangements described herein may allow for continueddevelopment of a relationship between the insurance provider or entityand the customer. For instance, upon detection of a home event, theagent associated with the customer or homeowner may be notified and theagent may contact the homeowner to offer assistance, as needed.

Additionally or alternatively, the system may provide for increasedinteraction, as desired, between the customer and the insurance provideror entity. For instance, the user may be, in some examples, promptedwith notifications along each step of the processes described herein(e.g., upon detection of an event, initiation of a claim, repair, etc.)as desired. Accordingly, the user may remain aware of the steps of theprocess, progress, and the like. This may also permit a user to providefeedback or opt out of any step along the process. Alternatively, userswho do not desire to have as much information may choose to receivefewer or no notifications and may permit the system to handle some orall of the detection, claim processing, repair, etc. with little or noadditional input from the user (e.g., homeowner, policy holder, etc.).

In still other examples, the system may quickly respond and provideassistance during catastrophic situations. For instance, in the event ofa natural disaster, such as a hurricane, tornado, etc., in someexamples, the extent of the damage might not be immediately known.Accordingly, full processing of the claim for repair or replacementmight not be available immediately. However, assistance may still beavailable to the policy holder via the system. For instance, if thepolicy includes payment for alternative accommodations in suchcircumstances, that portion of the claim may be processed and payment tothe policy holder may be made to cover the cost of the accommodations.In some examples, a reservation or other arrangement of theaccommodations may be performed by the system. The system maycommunicate this information to the user via a computing device, such asa mobile device.

While the aspects described herein have been discussed with respect tospecific examples including various modes of carrying out aspects of thedisclosure, those skilled in the art will appreciate that there arenumerous variations and permutations of the above described systems andtechniques that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. Forexample, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the stepsillustrated in the illustrative figures may be performed in other thanthe recited order, and that one or more steps illustrated may beoptional in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Further, one ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various aspects describedwith respect to a particular figure may be combined with one or moreother aspects, in various combinations, without departing from theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: at least one sensingdevice in communication with and monitoring one or more aspects of ahome device of a user; at least one video monitoring device to captureand transmit image data related to the home device of the user, the atleast one video monitoring device being in communication with the atleast one sensing device; a processing unit comprising a processor; anda memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which whenexecuted by the processing unit, cause the apparatus to: receive, via awireless telecommunication network and in real-time, first informationincluding signals from the at least one sensing device monitoring one ormore aspects of a home device; analyze the received signals to determinethat a home event has occurred; activate the at least one videomonitoring device in response to an indication received from the atleast one sensing device; responsive to activating the at least onevideo monitoring device, continuously transmit, via the at least onevideo monitoring device, video data of the home device; receive, fromthe at least one video monitoring device, the video data associated withof the home device; based on the analyzed received signals andresponsive to determining that the home event has occurred, receivesecond information different from the first information, the secondinformation being associated with an insurance policy covering the homedevice; responsive to determining that the home event has occurred,determine whether default user instructions identified and selected by auser to designate processes to be performed are available; responsive todetermining that the default user instructions are available, determinewhether the default user instructions include an identified and selectedinstruction to automatically initiate an insurance claim; responsive todetermining that the default user instructions include the identifiedand selected instruction to automatically initiate an insurance claim,automatically initiate an insurance claim to cover a cost of repair ofdamage caused by the home event; evaluate the default user instructionsto determine when a notification should be transmitted to a usercomputing device; and responsive to automatically initiating theinsurance claim, transmit a notification to the user computing deviceaccording to the default user instructions, the notification includingan indication that that the insurance claim has been initiated.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein determining whether default userinstructions are available further includes instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the apparatus to: determine whether the default userinstructions include an identified and selected instruction to initiaterepair of damage associated with the home event; and responsive todetermining that the default user instructions include the identifiedand selected instruction to initiate repair of the damage, arrange forrepair of the damage including identifying pre-established arrangementsto facilitate repair of the damage.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, furtherincluding instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to:receive, from at least one additional sensing device monitoring one ormore aspects of a second home device, third information different fromthe first information and the second information, the third informationindicating a severity of the damage caused by the home event.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein arranging for the repair is performedwithout any additional user input from a user associated with the homedevice.
 5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein arranging for repairincludes scheduling repair with a service entity.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein automatically initiating the insurance claim isperformed without additional user input from a user associated with theinsurance policy.
 7. A method, comprising: receiving, in real-time fromat least one sensing device in communication with and monitoring one ormore aspects of a home device of a user and via a telecommunicationsnetwork, first information including signals associated with operationof the home device; analyzing, by a home event detection and processingsystem having a processor, the received signals to determine that a homeevent has occurred; activating, by the home event detection andprocessing system, at least one video monitoring device configured tocapture and transmit video data related to the home device, the at leastone video monitoring device being in communication with the at least onesensing device; responsive to activating the at least one videomonitoring device, continuously transmit, via the at least one videomonitoring device, video data of the home device; receiving, from the atleast one video monitoring device, the video data of the home device;based on the analyzed received signals and responsive to determiningthat the home event has occurred, receiving, by the home event detectionand processing system, second information different from the firstinformation, the second information being associated with an insurancepolicy covering the home device; responsive to determining that the homeevent has occurred, determining, by the home event detection andprocessing system, whether default user instructions identified andselected by a user to designate processes to be performed are available;responsive to determining that the default user instructions areavailable, determining, by the home event detection and processingsystem, whether the default user instructions include an identified andselected instruction to automatically initiate an insurance claim;responsive to determining that the default user instructions include theidentified and selected instruction to automatically initiate aninsurance claim, automatically initiating, by the home event detectionand processing system, an insurance claim to cover a cost of repair ofdamage caused by the home event; evaluating the default instructions todetermine when a notification should be transmitted to a user computingdevice; and responsive to automatically initiating the insurance claim,transmitting a notification to the user computing device according tothe default user instructions, the notification including an indicationthat that the insurance claim has been initiated.
 8. The method of claim7, further including: determining, by the home event detection andprocessing system, whether the default user instructions include anidentified and selected instruction to initiate repair of damageassociated with the home event; and responsive to determining that thedefault user instructions include the identified and selectedinstruction to initiate repair of the damage, arranging, by the homeevent detection and processing system, for repair of the damageincluding identifying pre-established arrangements to facilitate repairof the damage.
 9. The method of claim 8, further including: receiving,from at least one additional sensing device monitoring one or moreaspects of a second home device, third information different from thefirst information and the second information, the third informationindicating a severity of the damage caused by the home event.
 10. Themethod of claim 8, wherein arranging for the repair is performed withoutany additional user input from a user associated with the home device.11. The method of claim 8, wherein arranging for repair includesscheduling repair with a service entity.
 12. The method of claim 7,wherein automatically initiating the insurance claim is performedwithout additional user input from a user associated with the insurancepolicy.
 13. A system, comprising: at least one sensing device incommunication with and monitoring one or more aspects of a home deviceof a user; at least one video monitoring device to capture and transmitvideo data related to the home device of the user, the at least onevideo monitoring device being in communication with the at least onesensing device; a home event detection and processing system, including:at least one processor; and a memory unit coupled to the processor andstoring computer-executable instructions, which when executed by theprocessor, cause the home event detection and processing system to:receive, via a wireless telecommunication network and in real-time,first information including signals from the at least one sensing devicemonitoring one or more aspects of a home device; analyze the receivedsignals to determine that a home event has occurred; activate the atleast one video monitoring device in response to an indication receivedfrom the at least one sensing device; responsive to activating the atleast one video monitoring device, continuously transmit, via the atleast one video monitoring device, video data of the home device;receive, from the at least one video monitoring device, the video dataof the home device; based on the analyzed received signals andresponsive to determining that the home event has occurred, receivesecond information different from the first information, the secondinformation being associated with an insurance policy covering the homedevice; responsive to determining that the home event has occurred,determine whether default user instructions identified and selected by auser to designate processes to be performed are available; responsive todetermining that the default user instructions are available, determinewhether the default user instructions include an identified and selectedinstruction to automatically initiate an insurance claim; responsive todetermining that the default user instructions include the identifiedand selected instruction to automatically initiate an insurance claim,automatically initiate an insurance claim to cover a cost of repair ofdamage caused by the home event; evaluate the default user instructionsto determine when a notification should be transmitted to a usercomputing device; and responsive to automatically initiating theinsurance claim, transmit a notification to the user computing deviceaccording to the default user instructions, the notification includingan indication that that the insurance claim has been initiated.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein determining whether default userinstructions are available further includes instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the home event detection and processing system to:determine whether the default user instructions include an identifiedand selected instruction to initiate repair of damage associated withthe home event; and responsive to determining that the default userinstructions include the identified and selected instruction to initiaterepair of the damage, arrange for repair of the damage includingidentifying pre-established arrangements to facilitate repair of thedamage.
 15. The system of claim 14, further including instructions that,when executed, cause the home event detection and processing system to:receive, from at least one additional sensing device monitoring one ormore aspects of a second home device, third information different fromthe first information and the second information, the third informationindicating a severity of the damage caused by the home event.
 16. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein arranging for the repair is performedwithout any additional user input from a user associated with the homedevice.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein arranging for repairincludes scheduling repair with a service entity.
 18. The system ofclaim 13, wherein automatically initiating the insurance claim isperformed without additional user input from a user associated with theinsurance policy.